Dogeetah! How comes it then
that you never mentioned his name before, and when is he going to meet
you here? Know that Dogeetah is a great man among us, for with him alone
of all men the king has made blood-brotherhood. As the king is, so is
Dogeetah among the Mazitu."

"We never mentioned him because we do not talk about everything at once,
Babemba. As to when Dogeetah will meet us I am not sure; I am only sure
that he is coming."

"Yes, lord Macumazana, but when, when? That is what the king will want
to know and that is what you must tell him. Lord," he added, dropping
his voice, "you are in danger here where you have many enemies, since it
is not lawful for white men to enter this land. If you would save your
lives, be advised by me and be ready to tell the king to-morrow when
Dogeetah, whom he loves, will appear here to vouch for you, and see that
he does appear very soon and by the day you name. Since otherwise when
he comes, if come he does, he may not find you able to talk to him. Now
I, your friend, have spoken and the rest is with you."

Then without another word he rose, slipped through the door of the hut
and out by the gateway of the fence from which the sentry moved aside
to let him pass. I, too, rose from the stool on which I sat and danced
about the hut in a perfect fury.

"Do you understand what that infernal (I am afraid I used a stronger
word) old fool told me?" I exclaimed to Stephen. "He says that we must
be prepared to state exactly when that other infernal old fool, Brother
John, will turn up at Beza Town, and that if we don't we shall have our
throats cut as indeed has already been arranged."

"Rather awkward," replied Stephen. "There are no express trains to Beza,
and if there were we couldn't be sure that Brother John would take one
of them. I suppose there _is_ a Brother John?" he added reflectively.
"To me he seems to be--intimately connected with Mrs. Harris."

"Oh! there is, or there was," I explained. "Why couldn't the confounded
ass wait quietly for us at Durban instead of fooling off butterfly
hunting to the north of Zululand and breaking his leg or his neck there
if he has done anything of the sort?"

"Don't know, I am sure. It's hard enough to understand one's own
motives, let alone Brother John's."

Then we sat down on our stools again and stared at each other. At this
moment Hans crept into the hut and squatted down in front of us. He
might have walked in as there was a door